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I have had a slow leak on one of my 9000's rear tires for the last few months. I'll air it up, and then sure enough after a week it's down to about 20 psi again. (Car is 98 9000 with Super Aero? exposed lug wheels)
This was when I first purchased the car. It needed new tires all around, so initially I chalked the leak up to the old tires (they were dry-rotted in some areas).
I put on new Kumho tires on all 4 wheels and sure enough, the problem was still there.
About a month ago, I took it to a local wheel refurbishing place for a look-see. The sprayed the tire with soap bubbles and we found a leak near the clamp-on wheel weight. So, the tire guy dismounted the tire, remounted it, removed the clamp-on weight, and used a stick-on weight instead.
Everything seemed to be ok for several weeks, and now it's loosing air slowly again. How annoying!! Good thing there is a gas station about 1 block away with free air.
So my question is...what could be causing this? A valve stem issue? Microscopic crack somewhere on the wheel? I don't think its the new tire because the old tire did the same thing on this particular wheel.
Should I take it to a tire shop like NTB, Goodyear, America's Tire, etc. and have them look at it, or should I go with a more specialized place that refinishes and can actually test my wheel?
Or, should I just keep this one as a spare and order a new refurbished one for about $160?
Thanks, I'm feeling frustrated today and need some advice!
posted by 207.140.1...
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